Routines
Spelling Routines
Spelling
Why Use Spelling Routines?
•Regularuseofroutineshelps
studentsimproveproficiencyand
developgoodspellingstudyhabits.
Make routines a consistent and regular part of
classroom spelling instruction and practice.
Use routines to meet student needs based on error types and words listed on
READ 180 Spelling Skills Grouping Reports. Compile additional spelling lists
from Topic Software Passages, Paperbacks, read-alouds, and content-area
texts. Model new routines until students can work independently. Display
routine steps as a reminder for students.
Purpose
Adding Suffixes and Endings
Rules provide a scaffold that can help
students spell words with suffixes and
added endings.
Teach students who need support adding suffixes and endings to follow
spelling rules.
Guided Practice
1. Write a model sentence with a word that requires an ending.
For example: Yesterday, Mom hum___ as she worked.
2. Point out that the word hum is a verb. It needs the ending -ed added in
order to form the past tense.
3. Tell students there are spelling rules to follow when adding endings such
as -ed. Provide the explanation given for Rule 1 below. Then write the
short version of Rule 1 and have students read it chorally.
4. Point to the short vowel u in hum, followed by the consonant m.
5. Help students apply the rule and change the word hum to hummed.
6. Repeat the routine with another sentence.
For example: Mom was hum____ as she worked.
Use the routine with these and other rules:
Rules to Know: Suffixes and Endings
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Rule 1
Rule 2
Rule 3
VC + ending that begins
with a vowel = double the
final consonant
silent e + ending that
begins with a vowel =
drop the silent e
consonant-y + ending that
begins with a vowel =
change y to i (except -ing)
Explanation: When a
word ends with a short
vowel followed by a single
consonant, double the final
consonant before adding a
suffix or ending that begins
with a vowel (hopped,
running, muddy).
Explanation: When a word
ends with a silent e, drop
the e before adding a suffix
or ending that starts with a
vowel. (racing, finer)
Explanation: When a word
ends with a consonant and
y, change the y to i before
adding a suffix or ending
that starts with a vowel,
except for -ing. (dutiful,
luckily, muddier, dried,
babies, crying)
READ 180 Professional Development
Professional DeveloPment
Repeated Writing
Purpose
Teach students who add, omit, substitute, or reverse letters to write,
rewrite, and check the letters in words.
Repeated writing provides practice in
spelling letter-by-letter. This routine
supports recognition of individual
letters and develops the habit of
precise, visual checking.
Guided Practice
Have students:
1. Fold a sheet of lined paper vertically to make four columns.
2. Write the first word correctly on the first line of the first column.
3. Fold back the first column and write the word in column two.
4. Look at column one again, and compare the spelling of the words
letter by letter.
5. Write the word in columns three and four, checking each time to see if
there are any errors.
6. Continue with the next word.
Variation Have partners exchange papers and proofread for errors.
Word Building
Purpose
Teach students who need support spelling longer words to build words by
adding affixes to a familiar base word.
Word building helps develop spelling
and vocabulary. Students gain
confidence in spelling words with
common roots or bases and also
become accustomed to breaking down
words into parts.
Guided Practice Explain to students that if they know how to spell a base
word, it is easy to spell words formed from the base word. Model these
steps for students to follow:
1. Write the base word visit on the board.
2. Write the formula re- + visit = ________. Ask students to identify the
word that is formed by adding the prefix re- to visit. (revisit)
3. Fill in the equation with revisit and use it in a sentence. (Let’s
revisit this text.)
4. Discuss how the meaning of the base word visit changes when the
prefix re- is added. (to visit again)
5. Repeat the steps with revisited. Write revisit + -ed = ______.
(revisited) Use the new word in a sentence. (We revisited the text.)
Explain the meaning. (visited again in the past)
6. Repeat the procedure with visitor. Write visit + -or = _______.
(visitor) Say the new word in a sentence. (The visitor stayed one hour.)
Explain the meaning. (one who visits)
Variation Make word cards with base words. Have students use the cards
to build words by adding as many prefixes and suffixes as possible and
writing a list of the new words.
Resource Links
SAM Keyword: Spelling Routine
READ 180 Spelling Routines
221
Routines
Spelling Routines (Continued)
Spelling
Purpose
Hear/Say...See/Write
Students learn that correct spelling
is dependent upon the relationship
between sounds and the letters that
stand for them.
Teach students who make errors in words with consonant blends, r-controlled
vowels, or common spelling patterns to listen for every sound in a word.
Guided Practice
1. Hear/Say: Say the word stop, emphasizing the initial sounds. Tell students
to listen and repeat the word. Say it again and ask how the word begins
(/st/) and how many sounds they hear in /st/. (two)
2. See/Write: Write stop on the board. Underline the letters that stand for
the initial sounds. (s, t) Erase the letters s and t and say -op. Fill in the
s and t to complete the word, and say it aloud: stop.
3. Repeat the routine with the word most to model spelling words with final
consonant blends.
Variation Use the routine with these examples.
Words With 3-Letter Blends
string
scream
splash
spray
Purpose
Proofreading helps students develop
the habit of visualizing words.
Words With Initial/Final Blends
blank
stunt
twist
crisp
Proofreading
Teach students who misspell sight words, words with diphthongs, digraphs,
or r-controlled vowels how to find and correct spelling errors.
Guided Practice Model this routine for students to follow:
1. Display words from the students’ READ 180 Spelling Zone reports.
2. Write one of the words in a sentence and underline it. For example, kind:
The kind man smiled.
3. Model how to proofread the word in the following ways.
a. letter-by-letter (k-i-n-d)
b. checking the spelling of beginning and end sounds (/k/; /nd/)
c. looking for familiar word parts (-ind)
d. noticing the visual pattern of the word (tall/short/short/tall)
Variation
•• Have partners exchange a paragraph of their recent writing and proofread
for errors.
•• Show students that when proofreading connected text, one way
to find errors is to read each sentence backwards word by word.
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READ 180 Professional Development
Professional DeveloPment
Dictation
Purpose
Guide students who need help identifying letter omissions, additions,
substitutions, and reversals to practice spelling words that you dictate.
Dictationdevelopstheencodingskills
necessaryforcorrectspelling.
Guided Practice
1. Preparealistofwordsbasedonthestudents’READ 180SpellingZone
reports,high-frequencywords,orotherwords.
2. Dictateawordandhavestudentsrepeatit.Thenuseitinasentence
andtellstudentstowritetheword.
3. Modelthecorrectspellingoftheword.Havestudentsproofreadand
makecorrections.
4. Progresstodictatingphrasesandshortsentences.
VariationDisplaythedictationontheboard.Readitchorallywithstudents.
Coverthewords.Havestudentswritewhattheysawandheard.
Matching and Sorting Words
Teach students who repeatedly misrepresent specific sounds to match and
sort words with the same sound-spellings.
Guided Practice
1. Listseveralwordswiththe/a/sound.Usewordsfromthestudents’
READ 180SpellingZonereports.Forexample,blazeandpainting.
Purpose
Matchingandsortingsupportsvisual
learningofsound-spellingvariations.
Italsosupportsstudents’awareness
oftheconnectionbetweensounds
and spellings.
2. Chorallyreadthewordswithstudents,pointingtothelettersthatstand
foreach/a/sound.Saythelettersaloud.(a–e, ai)
3. Guidestudentstocirclethevariousspellingsfor/a/ineachword.
4. Createachart,writingawordfromthelistatthetopofeachcolumn.
5. Listseveraladditionalwordswith/a/,oneatatime.
6. Havevolunteersaddeachwordtothechartinthecorrectcolumn
accordingtoitsspellingforlonga.Continueuntilallthewordshave
beenmatchedandsorted.
VariationRepeatthisroutinewithothersound-spellingsasnecessary.
Sample Sound-Spelling Patterns
/e/
ee —beet,meet,asleep,freedom
ea —leaf,clean,dream,eagle
y —happy,library,history,busy
ey —turkey,key,alley,journey
/i/
i-e —mine,wide,decide,polite
y —rhyme,reply,type,sky
i —blind,climb,triangle,spider
igh —fight,twilight,knight,
sunlight
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